1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to boiler wall tubes. Specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method and a system for measurement of a flow rate of fluid through the boiler wall tubes.
2. Related Art
The rate at which a fluid flows (“flow rate”) through fluid wall panels in boilers may be controlled by grouping tubes in a manner to share a common orifice. For example, a group of tubes may share a common orifice (often referred to as a “header”) and a series of bifurcations is introduced to distribute the fluid into progressively narrower tubes until the final tube dimension is achieved. Bifurcations are primary tube splits in which the fluid is expected to be equally distributed into the resulting tubes.
Measurement of the flow rate of the fluid through the tubes is often desired to ensure equal distribution of the fluid at the bifurcation. Standard equipment for the measurement of fluid flow through the tubes is typically a single flow channel measurement. However, the single flow channel measurement of a single tube does not permit an easy determination of whether the fluid is equally distributed at the bifurcation.
For example, when utilizing a single flow channel measurement, to determine equal distribution of the fluid at the bifurcation, measurement of the flow of a fluid in each tube and comparison of the flow rates of each tube would be required. Any alteration to the flow rate, the bifurcation, the orifice, or the combination thereof, would be conducted after the individual measurements were taken and analyzed. Such measurement and analysis is onerous, time consuming and expensive. Accordingly, there is a need to simplify the measurement and comparison of flow rates of fluids within tubes of wall panels within boilers.